Vodka
by chouhimes
Summary: She sighed and decided to speak to his chest instead; how was she supposed to tell him to his face? warnings: language


Tifa Lockhart stood by the counter of her bar, 7th Heaven, rinsing a cup, humming a little tune to herself. It was a quiet day so far in Edge; the kids, Denzel and Marlene, were asleep still, and it was quite nice, the peace of the morning. Cloud Strife, she thought happily, was completely rid of any Jenova or Sephiroth influence when Geostigma was cured, and he was actually home as he had returned from a delivery the previous night. They had almost nothing to worry about now, what with the Remnants gone and Sephiroth defeated once again- Aerith even had relayed to Cloud that he was forgiven, as he had always been, since he was never really to blame for the flower girl's untimely death in the first place.

Cloud was with the children- with _her_ again. Maybe, she pondered a bit hesitantly, but certainly hopefully, Cloud would let go of his dreadful past and move on, find a girlfriend, preferably someone whom he had known for, say, all his childhood? That would have been wonderful.

Moving away from the counter and to the cooler to check inventory, she noticed she was running low in vodka, only having a quarter of a bottle left.

"Jeez, since when am I almost out? I could've sworn I had plenty last night… I bet Reno snuck in and grabbed a bottle or two while I wasn't looking, the bastard." she grumbled, frowning a bit. '_Better go buy some more after the kids get up_,'

She climbed the stairs silently and stopped in front of Marlene and Denzel's rusted metal door. She peeked in and beamed, her heart warming within her chest when she saw the two curled up together, slumbering deeply with serene looks on their young faces. They had been through a lot lately, constantly worried about Cloud and the Remnants, not to mention the blond and Denzel's Geostigma- it had only been two weeks since then, after all. They deserved to sleep in for a while, even if they really should have been going to newly constructed school that day.

Tifa ambled down the hall and peered in Cloud's room, smiling when she saw him on the bed. She walked in further, but frowned when she saw a confused look on his face.

"Cloud, are you okay?" she asked, sitting next to him. He looked up at her and blinked.

"Ti…fa?"

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows. "Cloud, what's wrong? You seem a bit off today,"

Cloud shook his head bemusedly, staring at her.

"I don't… feel right," he whispered. She moved in closer to get a better look at him. His face was a bit more pale than usual, and that was saying something; and the mako definitely showed in his eyes, as they glowed more than usual.

Tifa grew worried. "Alright, come on."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him up, having to put her arm around his waist when he nearly fell. Cloud couldn't even hold himself up; this was not good.

"What… what are we doing?" Cloud asked faintly, straining to keep his eyes open.

"I'm going to take you downstairs so I can keep an eye on you. You're going to rest." she explained gently. He hummed, and his eyes slipped shut.

"Cloud," her voice was a bit tense; she couldn't have him falling asleep yet. What if he never woke up? That was obviously a worst-case scenario, but she wasn't taking any chances. She made it to the first floor and opened the entrance to the family room, a room Marlene had absolutely insisted there be, no matter what. She gently lay Cloud down on the couch and pulled up a chair in front of him.

"Oh my- " she jumped right back up and ran to the sink after feeling for a fever; he was burning up like crazy. Tifa returned to find Cloud covered in a light layer of sweat, breath shallow. The glass of water was set to the side and she put a wet washcloth to his forehead, smoothing his golden spikes back.

_'How did this happen_?' she thought, gripping his hand.

"Cloud? Can you hear me?" she asked, wiping his face with the towel in her free hand. She felt him squeeze her hand slightly, and she blushed quite a bit. She couldn't help it; he was her long-time crush, after all.

She sighed and shook her head- this was no time to be having impure thoughts about the sick man in front of her. She reached for the pills she grabbed and got his attention.

"Cloud, you need to take these. They'll help your fever, alright?" she waited for his weak nod and put them to his lips, then the water glass. When he had finished gulping them down, she let him rest finally. He would need it if he was going to get any better.

"Tifa?" she turned to see Marlene standing by the door with Denzel, anxious looks on both of their faces.

"What's wrong with Cloud?" Denzel asked.

"He's not feeling well, honey. Don't worry; he'll be better soon, alright? Probably just overworked himself." she forced a smile onto her face, for the kids' sake.

"Why don't you just head back upstairs, okay?" she guided them to the steps and watched as they made their way up, whispering amongst themselves.

Tifa glanced into the family room again, watching the pale man sleep. He would be fine while she went to the liquor store, she decided. Hopefully.

Stepping out into the busy streets of Edge, a much nicer place now that they had put effort onto really rebuilding, she smiled at a group of young children playing tag. Though many had died during the Geostigma phase, there were still hundreds of orphans left, and the brunette often wondered if she should put effort into finding a home for them. They were self-sufficient enough, yes, but they needed love and care, someone to take care of them.

"Aye, if it ain't young Tifa! How are ya doin', darlin'?" a gruff voice greeted her as she stepped into the dark room. There weren't many people if she were to be honest. Only three others were there: Johnny, a young man from her hometown of Nibelheim (he also happened to own a bar, though on the other side of the city) and two employees. Only those who could prove they ran a business in which liquor was necessary, such as a bar, were allowed into the shop; it was part of a movement to try to reduce the city's population of drunks, since there were only three bars in Edge. It was a fairly futile effort, though, as people just got wasted at bars instead of at home, now.

"I'm doing well, Frank… though, Cloud came down with something. He's not feeling too hot right now." she frowned, coming to stand in front of the counter.

"Aye, that ain't good at all. I'm sorry t' hear that. What would ya like? It's on the house today!" he said, fumbling with the keys to the large store room behind him.

"I just came here for a couple of bottles of vodka… the usual amount. Now that I think about it, I could use some tequila and sake as well. I couldn't let you give it to me for free, though! I have to pay you somehow." she said, shaking her head as the man set her bottles in front of her with a congenial smile; one of the assistants helped Tifa bag them, and she nodded her thanks.

"I don't think so, Tifa. Now get goin' 'fore I kick ya out!" he exclaimed, waving a hand at the door. She chuckled tiredly, deciding she would give him the extra money and bolt during her next purchase. As she stepped out into the alley, she flushed a deep crimson and yelled an 'okay' in response to Frank's, "You tell that young Cloud to hurry and get better 'fore I kick his ass, he should be spendin' that time wooing you instead o' sleepin'!"

**xxx**

Tifa sighed, exhausted, as she shoved her way through the crowd waiting outside of Seventh Heaven and into the building, quickly locking the door behind her. There was no time to take a nap, though; she had a sick blond and two kids to take care of, along with a bar to open. She walked to the entrance and flipped the sign to 'open' after she had quickly stowed away the liquor and checked on Cloud once again. The customers poured in; men, women, old, young, annoying, flirty, Turks, half-dead- you name it, they were there.

The brunette tried to keep up with the rush and succeeded quite well, eventually rewarding herself with a minute break. Usually, Cloud, sometimes Yuffie or any other AVALANCHE member passing through, would help her behind the counter while she took the orders, but that wasn't happening today.

"Three shots of vodka, yo. Just put it on my tab." the Turk sat on the stool in front of her, taking a long drag from his cigarette.

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Three? And your tab is full, Reno, pay up tonight or you're banned."

"Don't even ask, Lockhart. Just get me the damn alcohol, yo. I'll worry about the pay later." he smirked at her, flicking the end onto an ashtray.

She continued staring at him for a moment, then shook her head, pouring a shot. "Enjoy this, cause it's all you're gonna get unless you want some soda. You're lucky I'm giving you any at all, considering you stole from me."

"Hey, hey, it ain't stealin', it's on my tab!" he scoffed with a sneer, downing the glass the second it's handed to him.

"Mhm… like I said, Reno, this tab of yours is going to be the reason you can't come within 50 feet of the building if you keep it up." Tifa gives him a stern look, leaving for a moment to pour a glass elsewhere.

"Where's blondie?" the redhead asked when she came back for a pitcher of water.

"Hm? Oh, he's sick. Resting. You know." she mumbled absentmindedly, throwing some ice in a pair of glasses. "Where is everyone?"

"You expect me to remember where everyone is? I ain't their mom…" he reached over and stole a cup just as Tifa finished pouring it, earning a glare from the woman. "Lainey and Tseng are uh, takin' some time off from work in Costa del Sol, if ya know what I mean. Rude's sulkin' at the lodge 'cause Cissnei left for Wutai without tellin' him, and the Prez is doin' some long ass, borin' paperwork and plannin' a bunch of meetings for the WRO. I don't know, I don't really care. I just do what he tells me to do. Most of the time. It's stressful, yo, I gotta wind off here. Prez'll get pissed if he finds out though."

Tifa snorted in a very un-Tifa-like manner, snatching the glass back just as Reno was about to drink it. "Keep it up and I'll tell Rufus exactly where you are every night. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to take that tab out of your paycheck."

**xxx**

At exactly 1:00 AM, Tifa began to kick everyone out. She had been open since 10:00 AM, and could barely stand upright. After nearly half an hour of struggling to remove several drunken men making passes at her, she locked the door and shuffled into the family room, where Cloud was still passed out. The children had come down at around 9:00 to say goodnight and check on their father figure before Tifa left the bar in Reno's (unsurprisingly sober, since she had barred him from alcohol for the night) hands for 5 minutes and tucked them in.

She flopped onto the hard ground in front of Cloud's couch and brushed some hair back from his face before leaning up to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. There was a squeak on the floorboards from outside the room, but she didn't even have the will to check it out as she lay her head down on the uncomfortable ground and fell asleep.

**xxx**

"Tifa…?" Cloud murmured as he stared at the young woman below him. What was Tifa doing on the floor? He glanced at the clock by the door and saw that it was 8:45 in the morning; she was usually up and about at 7:00.

He had vague memories of the brunette taking care of him, so he assumed he had been sick, but it was all a little blurry. He yanked off the blanket covering him and set it on Tifa, who was shivering silently on the ground. He picked her up and placed her on the couch, studying her. She had dark circles under her eyes, something he could only remember seeing during initial quest with AVALANCHE to stop Sephiroth, and she was still in her day clothes. Had she simply passed out next to him? He snuck out the door and looked around at the bar; it was a disaster. It seemed like she didn't even clean up after closing, which wasn't like her at all.

He walked upstairs and poked his head into the kids' room, finding them coloring silently. He came over to stand behind the young girl on the ground.

"Cloud?" Denzel asked, standing. Marlene gasped and jumped to her feet, attacking the blond with a hug as Denzel hesitantly did the same, with much less force.

"I'm so glad you're okay now, Cloud!" Marlene cried, moving to sit on his knee as he knelt down; Cloud felt awkward, as he was never really one for hugging, but let it go.

"I'm fine now." was all he could say as he glanced at the drawing the two made. Denzel's was of Cloud on the couch, sleeping (or at least Cloud thought it was himself. It was sort of like a Chocobo's butt sticking out from a green rectangle, which he assumed was a blanket. 'Does my hair honestly look like that?').

"Marlene…? What's this?" he asked, confused. The picture was of a stick figure with brown hair, its head a bit too close to another blond stick on a long block. The girl looked up from her spot to see what he was asking about.

"Hm? Oh, that's you and Tifa. Do you like it?" she looked hopeful, and Cloud smiled minutely at her.

"It's very nice, but… what is she doing?"

"Oh, well, me and Denzie went downstairs last night 'cause we couldn't sleep but all the people were gone so we looked in the family room and saw Tifa kiss your cheek! I almost squealed, but Denzie put his hand over my mouth before I could do anything and dragged me back upstairs after she fell asleep. Why don't you kiss Tifa on the cheek, Cloud?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Cloud flushed a bit and saw Denzel face-palm in his periphery vision.

"Um, that's, uh… why don't I make breakfast?"

Marlene beamed, "Yeah! Can you make eggs and bacon and toast and sausage and hash browns and-"

Denzel's hand quickly shot out and covered the young girl's mouth, and she struggled as they left the room.

"Of course, Mar."

**xxx**

Tifa woke up to loud noises on the opposite side of the living room door.

'_The bar!_'

Had the customers broken in? It seemed possible; it was a Saturday, and nearly 1:00 in the afternoon at that. Surely some people got tired of waiting, and simply busted in.

'_Wait, wait, wait. Where's Cloud?_' Tifa thought, her makeshift bed and surroundings finally registering in her mind. If she was on the couch, then… where was the blond?

She slipped out of the room and up the stairs as hastily and soundlessly as possible, not wanting to draw attention to herself just yet. After about 10 minutes, she came down the stairs, teeth and hair brushed, clad in one of Cloud's old black T-shirts and her usual skirt and leggings.

"HEY! Tifa's finally up, guys!" she heard a young girl exclaim loudly as a large weight slammed into her, wrapping its arms around Tifa; it was none other than Yuffie, still entirely too hyper for her own good.

"Why don'tcha leave 'er alone, ya goddamn brat! She jus' woke up, I'm sure she don't want ya fuckin' attackin' her!" the pilot yelled as the girl was peeled off by Vincent, who silently nodded to the confused brunette.

"Um… hello guys?" she said, rubbing her eyes; she needed some coffee. Now.

"How're ya doin' Tifa? 'S it a'right if I take Marlene down to the park later t'day?"

She blinked and looked at Barret, Nanaki at his side. "Oh, of course. She is your daughter, I mean."

"Hello, Tifa. It's a pleasure to see you again."

She turned to see Reeve, sitting on one of the stools with Cait Sith in his lap. She smiled politely at him, nodding once.

"Great to see you again, too, Reeve." She struggled to make herself heard over the rising noise level in the bar; everyone was honestly getting too rowdy, and she wasn't dealing with this so soon after she woke up.

"HEY!" she yelled. Most patrons stopped and looked at her. "Could you keep it down? Just a bit?"

They blinked at her and went back to their conversations, though most complied and limited their volume. She hummed and turned to her friends, who were looking at her strangely.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just… nah, nothing." Yuffie shook her head, smiling.

Tifa looked around suspiciously before a thought crossed her mind. "Um, not that I'm not ecstatic to see you all— I am, really, I mean, it's rare that we all get to meet up like this but, um… why are you…?"

"I invited them a couple days ago. Thought it'd be nice to have everyone over for a bit." she heard a quiet voice say from behind her. Tifa gasped quietly and spun around.

"Oh, Cloud, you're feeling alright now? Are you sure you should be walking around?" she asked, concern sparkling in her ruby eyes.

"I'm fine, Teef. Don't worry about me." he said, staring at her. She frowned but kept quiet, biting her lip.

"Tifa! Wanna see the picture I drew this morning? And guess what? Cloud made us pancakes and waffles and-" Marlene was cut off by Denzel, who clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Please don't start again." he said, then looked to Tifa, a small smile gracing his lips. "She's told everyone here at least twice."

Tifa laughed and kneeled down to a struggling Marlene's level. "You can tell me all about breakfast later, hm?"

The small girl nodded and finally broke free from Denzel, jumping up to grab a piece of paper on the counter. "Look! Isn't it pretty, Tifa?"

Tifa plucked the picture from her hands and studied it, a light blush dusting her cheeks. "Um, Marlene?"

"Do you like it?"

"Of course, sweetie. It's beautiful." she smiled at the beaming girl. "I just… what am I doing?"

"Huh? Cloud asked the same thing, almost! Well, me and Denzel went downstairs last night 'cause we heard everyone was gone and we couldn't sleep so we checked in the family room and you kissed Cloud on the cheek! Why don't you do that more often?" she asked, staring up at the extremely flustered martial artist. "I think Cloud liked it, I saw him smile when you did it!"

Tifa heard a faint choking noise from behind her (as well as some raucous snickers and guffaws from behind her, courtesy of Barret, Cid and Yuffie) and looked to see the blond leaning on the counter, looking down and slightly away, hiding his face from view. He snatched up a rag and wiped the water he had just coughed up while Tifa walked over to him.

"Are… are you okay, Cloud?" she asked hesitantly, still quite red.

"Hm? Yeah, fine." his voice sounded a bit off.

"Cloud? Look at me?"

Cloud tensed for a brief moment, then glanced up at her, cerulean eyes staring into ruby. Tifa vaguely noticed that he was flushing almost as much as she was.

"Are you alright, Tifa?" she heard Marlene ask, the young girl tugging on her shirt. Tifa was startled out of her thoughts (staring) and looked down, as if she was surprised Marlene was there. She smiled and nodded, looking back up at Cloud.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she tried not to look at his eyes, for fear of getting distracted once again.

"Don't worry." he said, shaking his head.

She shook her head. "How can I not worry about you?" she murmured under her breath.

"Easy. You forget about me," she heard him mumble just as quietly, making to move away.

_'He heard me?_' Her eyes widened and she reached out, snagging the back of his shirt.

"What? I can't just… _forget_ about you, Cloud, that's not possible! I've known you since we were kids! We made a promise together, and journeyed all over the world together—stopped Sephiroth together, twice! I can't forget about you, for Shiva's sake, I lo-" she cut herself off, releasing Cloud to cover her mouth, standing quickly and whipping around to stare wide-eyed at the door. The whole of AVALANCHE (save for Vincent, who just watched with a vague amusement in his eyes) smirked at each other.

Tifa felt someone grab her arm. '_Oh Gaia_.'

"Tifa… what were you about to say?" she heard him ask, voice barely loud enough to hear.

"It's not important, Cloud." she shook her head almost frantically; the blond turned her around and stared intently at her.

"I think it is."

Tifa looked at him, then down at the floor. "'S nothing."

"Tifa."

She sighed and decided to speak to his chest instead; how was she supposed to tell him to his face?

"I… Iloveyoualotokay." she whispered in a rush.

"What was that, Tifa? We couldn't hear ya!" the brunette heard Yuffie call out. Tifa blushed even more (she was going to pass out if any more blood went to her head) and muttered inaudibly again.

"Tifa?"

"Oh shut up!" She gulped, clenching her fists. "I… I love you. A lot."

There was silence from their area of the bar, and Tifa looked down, horrified. _'Did I just say that? Oh, Ifrit, he probably hates me now. Why oh WHY did I just-_'

Her internal ranting was cut off when her chin was gently forced up and she felt something warm press against her lips.

Cloud was kissing her.

Cloud. Kissing her. Right now.

Tifa could have melted.

She stayed blinking, dazed and disoriented even after the blond pulled away. What had just happened?

After almost a minute, she came to her senses. She could hear Marlene squealing, Yuffie and Cid whistling along several bar patrons. She stared at Cloud, who had a small smile playing across his lips.

"What?" his eyes sparkled with amusement.

"What? What do you mean, 'What'? What just happened?" she asked shakily. Did this mean…?

Cloud leaned down to press his forehead to hers and gave a breathy chuckle, pecking her lips once more. "I love you too, Tifa."

* * *

**~*~AUTHOR'S NOTE THING~*~**

so basically i'm going through all the fics i've posted on here and i'm sort of... editing them? just fixing a lot of grammar and spelling issues and rewriting/adding some things idk. they're not perfect and i probably missed a lot of stuff as always but whaTEVER who cares tbh. going through and adding some things for that last part was just as awkward as it was the first time writing it wow i can't deal with fluff it gives me headaches.


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